Inspiration is all around us. Exotic locations, delicious food, beautiful people and unique experiences at work, home and around you. I thought of capturing these things in life and share them. I would like to invite you to come to Amols' Ledge(bench) and pen down your thoughts.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Too many of us rush, causing confusion and requiring more time to clarify misunderstandings later. We miss chances to build relationships, motivate others, close deals and convey important information.

Avoid the following ten mistakes.1. Using vague subject lines. "Meeting," "Update," or "Question" provide no value as subject lines.Maximize the subject line's message. PDA users will get the message quickly; everyone will appreciate the clear summary. You can communicate plenty in a five to 10 word subject line: "Your Action Items and Minutes from Last Week's Meeting" or "Sam: See You at 10:00 Tuesday with Report In-Hand?"2. Burying the news. Convey the important points first: put dates, deadlines and deliverables in the first one to three lines of the message (if not also in the subject line). PDA limitations, time pressures, cultural distinctions and value judgments keep many readers from reading further.3. Hiding Behind the "BCC" field. At best, the 'blind copy' field is sneaky and risky. At worst, it's deceitful or unethical. Plus, blind recipients sometimes hit "reply all," revealing the deception. Instead, post the initial message and BCC no one. Then forward your sent message to others with a brief explanation.4. Failing to clean up the mess of earlier replies/forwards. Few readers will wade through strings of previous messages.

§State your position clearly, even if context follows below in the email string. "Yes" helps less than "Yes, you can have the extra funding to hire 5 temporary workers."

§Summarize the discussion to date: "See below: R&D is looking for more time but Sales risks losing customers if we don't act now."

§Force focus when necessary: "Let's focus on cost now and revisit the morale and equity issues at our staff meeting next week."

9. Thinking email works best. Email is not always the best way to communicate.

§Need a quick answer from someone nearby? Stop by for a visit.

§Want a reply to several unanswered emails? Pick up the phone.

§Looking for more gravitas? Mail a letter.

§Need to explain a complex or sensitive situation? Arrange a meeting.

10. Forgetting that email lasts forever. Most of us read, send and discard emails at lightning speeds. But don't forget that emails remain on a server somewhere as easy-to-forward proof of any error, offense or obfuscation we made.